Philip Roth's fond farewell to his literary alter ego

Through nine novels, beginning with The Ghost Writer in 1979, Philip Roth has created one of the enduring characters in American literary fiction: Nathan Zuckerman. Now, in Exit Ghost, Roth offers what is likely to be Zuckerman's final appearance. Although Roth's many admirers hope he'll produce more works of consequence, in many respects the novel feels like a summing up, both for...

The unbearable sweetness of being

The older Philip Roth gets - he is 73 - the more skillful, economical, perceptive and quietly daring his novels become. There is an irony in this, given the atmospherics of his amazing new novel, Everyman, which explores old age, infirmity, isolation and the inevitable yet always surprising fact of our personal extinction.We meet Roth's nameless protagonist (who is about the same age as Roth...

Well Read Column by Robert Weibezahl

Imagine if aviator Charles Lindbergh, America's golden boy and a Nazi sympathizer, had run for president against FDR in 1940, and won. The Japanese might not have attacked Pearl Harbor; the United States might not have joined the Allies in the fight against fascism in Europe and Asia. But what would have been the fate of American Jews? That is the tantalizing premise of The Plot Against...

A book to savor and ponder

It is the summer of 1998, and while the Clinton/Lewinsky affair is smeared across the headlines, a more intriguing scandal is unfolding in a small New England college town. Coleman Silk, dean of Athena College, has been forced to retire because of spurious charges of racism. When his wife has a heart attack, Silk rails against his accusers for causing her death. In an act of emotional...

A Roth character considers life's folly from beyond the grave

Of how many writers can it be said that they're still producing some of their best work well into their 70s? With this, his 24th novel, Philip Roth proves beyond any dispute that he deserves to be counted in that select group.Indignation opens in one of Roth's favorite settings: his hometown of Newark, New Jersey. The year is 1950, and 18-year-old Marcus Messner dutifully pursues his...